bible study Archives - Notes From the Parsonage

ESV Women’s Study Bible Review

notesfromtheparsonage — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 15:45:45 +0000

Let’s take a look at the ESV Women’s Study Bible and find out if it is the right choice for you.

Crossway sent me the ESV Women’s Study beautiful Bible to review. I’m usually not a “women’s Bible” kind of gal (with the exception of the She Reads Truth Bible), so I was pretty surprised to love this study Bible. The ESV Women’s Study Bible comes in a slipcase box.

Can we start with this beautiful cover? It is absolutely magnificent. This cover is the Genuine Leather in British Tan. Crossway needs to make this a regular cover option. It is such a beautiful shade of brown. And it feels so nice and luxurious. There are a few other cover options, as well. You can get the leather-look deep brown, leather-look teal, teal cloth board (probably my second favorite option), and hardcover. It has gilded pages and spine. The artwork on the cover and throughout the Bible is the same as the ESV Illuminated Bible by artist Dana Tanamachi. It is simply gorgeous. It makes you want to spend time with this Bible.

The actual Bible pages are rather thin. I couldn’t find information on the actual paper, but it tends to stick together a little more than the ESV Study Bible paper. I tabbed this Bible (with Salt and Charm Bible tabs) and the pages were noticeably thinner and the gilding was a little stuck together. It wasn’t a big deal and fixes itself as you use the Bible. (Once you get the pages are unstuck, they don’t restick together.) It also only has one ribbon bookmark, which is such a bummer since they went with such luxurious options on the Bible as a whole. (A Bible should definitely have at least 4 ribbons, in my opinion.)

Let’s look at the features!

The Women’s Study Bible features a double column style with footnotes and additional devotional readings. These are not fluffy footnotes. These are good, scholarly footnotes. Each book of the Bible has an illustrated title page from the ESV Illuminated Bible. It also has a full book intro. It is like the ESV Illuminated Bible and the ESV Study Bible had a beautiful baby. The intros include maps, diagrams, key places and people, key themes, historical background and an outline. They are extremely helpful in your Bible study give quite a bit of context to what you’re reading.

This Bible also includes beautiful gilded Bible artwork inside the Bible. The artwork is from the ESV Illuminated Bible and are by artist Dana Tanamachi. They’re beautiful.

There is a hefty “Articles and Resources” section at the back of this Bible. It has a plan of salvation, articles about theological concepts, and more. The focus of this Bible, unlike other women’s Bibles, is not on motherhood. The focus is on God. The layout and theme just appeal more to women. There are articles about singleness, motherhood, raising children, adoption, caring for children with disabilities, eating disorders, and more. The articles in this Women’s Study Bible cover a variety of circumstances a woman may find herself in. It also contains a reading plan, a glossary, a concordance, and some full color maps.

Do I recommend the ESV Women’s Study Bible?

Now, I personally do prefer the ESV Personal Size Study Bible for my own personal Bible study. But this one is really great, too. It is really personal preference on if you want all the fancy gold and such or if you prefer a more simple Bible. The Personal Size Study Bible is also a bit more narrow and a bit thicker. I think my preference is one of size. This Bible measures 6.25″x9″– which I kind of feel like is a standard sized Bible.

Absolutely! This is a lovely Bible. It would make a fantastic gift for you mom, wife, best friend, whomever. It is beautiful and has so many study helps.

ESV Personal Study Bible Review

notesfromtheparsonage — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 17:17:37 +0000

The Personal Study Bible has quickly become my favorite Bible! It has all the extras that I need as I study and the perfect size for holding or setting on the table while I annotate away.

Crossway sent me the ESV Personal Size Study Bible to review. I’m not obligated to give it a favorable review. So when I say this is my favorite Bible of all time, it has nothing to do with it being sent to me. It is just a fantastic Bible. (Even the Pastor is jealous.)

I got the Black Genuine Leather version. But it comes in six other cover options. There is a really pretty turquoise version that is too cute. Or a TruTone brown that looks awesome, as well. The leather cover option comes in the box shown– other covers may be packaged differently.

My favorite aspect of this Bible is the size. It is the perfect size. Substantial without being massive. It is very thick, don’t get me wrong. But it isn’t flopping all over the place while I read with a baby in my lap. (And these Le Pens are perfect for Bible study. They are a great size and don’t bleed through the pages. Great for underlining, circling, and writing notes.) (Mug is from Anthropologie.)

I also love the single column layout. That is my personal preference. It also has cross references in the center margin, which I love. And it has study notes at the bottom of the page. These notes are so incredibly helpful in personal study. You might be anti-study notes, but I like them.

It also contains maps, charts, and images as you go. That was incredibly helpful when reading through Joshua. It gave me a concrete image of all those promises fulfilled.

Each book also has a pretty detailed introduction. It lets you know the context of the book. Who wrote this? Why did they write this? Where are the places? What is the outline of the book? I have found these introductions to be helpful when diving into a new book.

There are also so many resources in the back: God’s Plan of Salvation, Biblical Doctrine, Biblical Ethics, Interpreting the Bible, Reading the Bible, The Canon of Scripture, The Reliability of Bible Manuscripts, Archaeology and the Bible, The Original Languages of the Bible, The Septuagint, How the New Testament Quotes and Interprets the Old Testament, The Bible in Christianity, The Bible and World Religions, The Bible and Religious Cults, History of Salvation in the Old Testament, Charts and Diagrams Index, Map Index, Concordance, Weights and Measures, and Full Color Maps.

The only part about this Bible that could be improved is the lack of ribbon markers. This fantastic Bible only has 1. (You know my ideal is 4.) But have no fear, I’m already at work tricking this beauty out to make up for the lack of ribbons.

I’ve already added these lovely Bible tabs (Storm) from Find Wondrous Things. (I’ll be discussing Bible tabs sometime soon. I’ve been buying, applying, and will be reviewing them in the near future.) (This mug is from Ethan Nicolle’s store.)

Do I recommend the ESV Personal Study Bible?

Absolutely! This is an excellent Bible for new and old believers alike. The size is perfect for study. No tiny print. But not so tall and wide it gets awkward. I absolutely love it. As usual, the cheapest place to buy this Bible is Christian Book Distributors.

ESV Illuminated Scripture Journal Review

notesfromtheparsonage — Tue, 31 Dec 2019 14:25:38 +0000

The Scripture Journal is a great new Bible study tool that I think you’ll love! Each book of the Bible is broken down into its own little notebook with plenty of room for notes and doodles. Your inductive Bible study experience will never be the same!

At the end of last year, I was able to review Crossway’s Illuminated Scripture Journal New Testament set. It is such a beautiful set and I have enjoyed it this year. Crossway released the Illuminated Scripture Journal Old Testament set earlier this year, and I knew it’d be just as lovely as the New Testament set. What I was not expecting was the sheer size of the thing.

I mean, clearly, I was aware that the Old Testament is larger than the New Testament. But seeing it like this made it very vividly clear just how much bigger the Old Testament really is.

Looking at them side-by-side is a bit mind blowing.

Clearly, some of the books are massively thick and others are pretty thin. The thinner books have some extra blank pages in the back of them.

The minor prophets are combined, so there isn’t a book for each one. Additionally, books with a first and second (Kings, Chronicles) are combined.

A Look Inside the Scripture Journal

Just like the New Testament set, you have the words of Scripture on the left hand page and a faint dot grid on the right hand page.

Illustrations appear throughout. Some take up an entire page and are on the left side. If they are small, they are on the right hand dot grid page.

Scripture Journals and Bible Journaling

If you’re curious how different media work with the paper, here are some examples from my Romans book. Our church had a small group on Romans, so I used my Illuminated Scripture Journal for that small group. The left page (above) has been watercolored on the back side of the page. There is some wrinkling, but no bleed through. The right illustration is watercolor colored pencil and micron pen, neither of which showed through or warped the paper much.

This page has Stabilo marker and Micron pens and it didn’t bleed through or warp the paper at all. The paper is much thicker than a standard Bible paper. It feels more like a Moleskin Cahier paper.

Do I Recommend the Illuminated Scripture Journals?

Yes! The entire set is just beautiful and well-worth the buy, in my opinion. I really enjoyed using these for Bible study. It was super convenient to be able to throw my Bible study book and the book of the Bible we were studying in my purse to read whenever I had the chance. I also really enjoyed taking notes and illustrating throughout the book. These are very much like my favorite journaling Bible, the Crossway Interleaved Journaling Bible. The paper is much thicker, and it isn’t quite interleaved, but the effect is very similar.

This set is perfect for inductive Bible study. You’ll have just the one book of Scripture and can highlight and take notes without feeling like you’re ruining your Bible.

These are also excellent when your pastor is preaching through a sermon series on a specific book of the Bible. Or when your small group is doing an Isaiah study– or whatever book they’ve chosen. It is just so convenient to have just the one small notebook sized book.

You can also purchase just a single Scripture Journal and not the whole set. So if you’re just wanting to deep dive into the Psalms– you can purchase just the Psalms Scripture Journal.

It is very large and takes up quite a bit of shelf space. I happen to think it is beautiful and looks lovely set out, so I don’t mind the size so much. I like both sets so much and am very glad to have both.

You can also put the Scripture Journals into a traveler’s notebook while you’re using them. They’re the perfect size and that gives it a little more of a “cover” to protect it.